MIAMI – Rather than continue to remain the NFL’s best-kept secret, the Falcons approached the most grand stage of them all ready to spread their wings and soar into the hearts and minds of the nation.

Yes, the team from Atlanta has made it here as the other team involved in Super Bowl XXXIII, an understudy opposite the Broncos. That doesn’t mean the Falcons are going to stepaside for anyone and does mean they are absolutely loving the underdog role that has been thrust upon them.

Buoyed by a sendoff the likes of which the franchise has never before experienced in Atlanta, the Falcons made the short trip and arrived here yesterday afternoon brimming with confidence, sounding as if they know something and come Sunday, will let everyone else in on the secret.

“Keep telling a team they can’t win and they’re inferior,” receiver Terance Mathis said last night during the first official media session for the Falcons’ first-ever appearance in the big game. “People don’t think we’re good enough to be playing right now. That’s fine with us. If you listen to people, we’ve already lost before we’ve played the game.”

As a solid seven-point underdog, the Falcons are respected, but not nearly as much as a 16-2 team has a right to expect. This is a club that knocked off the supposedly Super Bowl- bound Vikings in overtime last week in a thrilling NFC Championship Game, and after escaping Minnesota with a victory, there is nothing these Falcons believe they cannot accomplish.

The Broncos pose a threat, to be sure, as the defending champions who have been around this block. The Falcons, though, believe they are a team of destiny that just happens to have a load of talent, even if their names are known only in their own households.

“This is an underdog that has weapons,” safety Eugene Robinson, the former Packers defensive back who will play in the Super Bowl for the third consecutive year. “We are a team that refused to go away. I want you to think we’re just happy to be here and maybe we don’t have a chance. If you do, you can be in for a big surprise.”

As new as this all is to the Falcons, there are those who understand what this week will bring. Robinson is one and linebacker Cornelius Bennett – a four-time Super Bowl loser with the Bills – is another. Of course, there also is Dan Reeves, the miracle-man coach who may have come up with the coaching job of the century, putting a jolt in a rag-tag organization, taking Atlanta from 3-13 and perennial losing to the brink of a title in only his second season back in his home state of Georgia.

Reeves is also something of a miracle man, period, as he underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery on Dec. 14, has steadily regained his strength and estimates he’s handling between 85 and 90 percent of his pre-surgery workload.

This is Reeves’ fourth Super Bowl as a head coach – he lost his first three, blown out all three times with the Broncos – and he’s sticking with his rare approach by allowing families to stay with his players the entire week. Reeves did request that small children be left behind but that request has apparently fallen on deaf ears.

“We’ll have a lot of baby sitters and nannies,” Reeves joked.

The Falcons will have a strict curfew of midnight starting tomorrow night. Reeves wants the Falcons to enjoy themselves, but not all night.

“There’s no way I can explain to these players what this week will be like,” Reeves said.

This was an uplifted group of Falcons, as their limousine ride to the airport in Atlanta made a stop at Centennial Park, where thousands of fans paid homage to a team that stunned the league.

“You had mothers doing the Dirty Bird,” said Robinson, referring to the celebration dance that has come to symbolize the Falcons’ ascension.No one can say the Falcons coasted here, as they defeated the 49ers and Vikings to survive the NFC wars.

“We could beat San Francisco 100 times and they’re still not going to have the respect for us that we deserve,” Bennett said. “We won the NFC championship and we’re still not getting respect. We can win the Super Bowl people are going to say we had a lucky season. It’s the history of this franchise. We’ve come from nowhere.”